Exciting day of boat harbour dredging and steel sheet collection as the rain fell, frosts are still expected and we overcame some other set-backs whilst I worked hard on tidying my desk, reconciling accounts and paying bills and all three children swam in the pool this evening. The unpopular search for nuclear waste disposal sites has been called off for south-east England with an election looking imminent, Ken Baker is publishing plans to extend the capacity of popular schools, Thatcher is accused of encouraging the EEC to sabotage the current nuclear disarmament talks and the ferry disaster enquiry hears how the Bosun fell asleep and there was no deck officer on duty to check.
A late night writing up my journal and watching the snooker on TV. Awoke early this morning so as to get up, dressed and fed before the digger arrived with Robin Felbrig at 7.15am. Had arranged for Mr Larkin and Peter to arrive early as well and so we were ready for him. The day started bright and dry, but there was soon rain in the air that got steadily worse as the day progressed. As soon as Robin arrived, he detected that he had a puncture (again!) and so he took the front rear side wheel off and we took it to ATS Tyre Depot in the Range Rover. Took an hour to get it fixed and he was back working at 9.00am approx. He has a new Massey Ferguson digger and it is good to see how able and efficient this machine is. In 3 ½ hours he had cut out a harbour 20ft by 12ft wide, 3ft below water level (at least on all these dimensions. The resulting spoil made a mess of the area destined to be my games lawn, but will make adequate filling for the camp shedding. By this time the rain was falling quite hard. I had managed to wipe up the excess Sealastic from bedding in the Lady’s gunwale and sand down all of the original varnishing of the last couple of days, ready for some more paint when the weather improves. Mr Larkin spent the day ferrying tons of pile sheeting and box sections from its arrival point at The Paper Mill.
It took three trips in all. I settled up with Robin - £88 for a minimum day, which was a bit steep, as it was only 3+ hours, but I will see what Mr Larkin thinks of it. I was glad that Pete mowed the lawns yesterday, as there would have been little chance today. He weeded the beds instead. Di had been out all morning (now that she had her month’s money) getting the week’s food shopping and she came back to take me out for lunch at the Little Chef (though I paid of course!) This afternoon I watched some TV snooker on the portable on my desk, whilst I started to try and clear my desk. Once Daniel was home from school, I tried to go through his work with him, but I got so much defiance and rejection that I resolved not to help him with it again unless asked. Tea of grilled trout and then out to feed the ducks and doves and check the swimming pool. The filter baskets are getting clogged with the seed petals from nearby trees and, the heating having cut out accordingly, the pool temperature was down to 75degF when all three children swam this evening. Back to my office this evening; tired, fed up and working rather reluctantly. At least I cleared my desk, reconciled my bank statements and paid outstanding bills. More work still needs to be done though. I phone Mum & Dad with a view to us visiting them this weekend. With Mum only home a couple of days and still tired and feeling their feet, they need a few more days to settle into a routine, but Mum is making good progress. As well as being rainy, it is also turning quite chilly and frosts are expected. The news today is of the government unexpectedly calling off the NIREX test boring to find low-level nuclear waste disposal sites in south east England. Put down to ‘unattractive economics’, the real reason is seen as the forthcoming general election, as yet another example of window dressing. The man questioned with the schoolgirl murders has now been cleared of blame and so the search goes on. Kenneth Baker, the Education secretary, is publicising plans for ‘extending choice’ in the state education system by eliminating the ‘artificial limits’ on the capacity of popular schools. Labour’s Education Spokesman, Giles Radice, calls the move a recipe for more mobile classrooms. In the ferry enquiry, the assistant bosun, Marc Stanley, tells how he went to sleep and failed to close the ferry doors. The enquiry also head how the Herald sailed without a fourth officer – who would have been responsible for G-deck (where the doors are) in yet another act of a play of incompetence. Dennis Healey, the Shadow Labour Foreign Secretary, has accused Mrs Thatcher of secretly urging the EEC to sabotage the current nuclear disarmament talks.